#DCT29 – The Dirty Details

Keynote Speaker – Howard Lindzon

Howard Lindzon is co-founder and CEO of StockTwits® – a social network for traders and investors to share real-time ideas and information. StockTwits was recently named “one of the top 10 most innovative companies in web” by FastCompany and one of the “50 best websites” by Time magazine.

Mr. Lindzon has more than twenty years experience in the financial community acting in both an entrepreneurial and investing capacity. With a unique vision for starting and successfully managing innovative companies, he is the Managing Partner of Social Leverage, a holding company that invests in early stage web businesses. Howard continues to manage a hedge fund he started in 1998.

He created Wallstrip, and more than 400 original web video shows, which was purchased by CBS Corp. in 2007. He is an active angel with many success angel investments including: Rent.com, (purchased by Ebay in 2005 for $415 million), Golfnow.com (purchased by Comcast in June 2008), and Lifelock (lead investors include Bessemer Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers). Mr. Lindzon’s new media and internet business investments also include: Limos.com, Blogtalkradio.com, Buddy Media, Ticketfly, Assistly, Bit.ly and Tweetdeck.

Mr. Lindzon received an MBA at Arizona State University and an MIM from The American Graduate School of International Management.

We are looking for amazing entrepreneurs & demos

The goal at DemoCamp has been to provide a platform for local companies to launch, get product or pitch feedback, to establish a presence for recruiting, to help with PR and social media awareness. We try to get a group of highly connected and apparently highly cynical entrepreneurs, developers, designers, marketers, investors and others in a room to watch entrepreneurs in a safe environment. It’s something between a graduate seminar and a show. The goal is to demo your product and get feedback about your demo, your design, your market, etc. You decide. (It’s a work in progress, but it’s a social event).

We’re also looking for up to 5 startups or entrepreneurs to demo a new technology. Selected presenters get 5 minutes to show us the best of their application and then ask the audience for feedback, coaching, and insight from a highly connected cynical crowd. You get market advice, technology advice, pitch/presentation advice.

DemoCamp continues to evolve. It is first and foremost a social opportunity for entrepreneurial designers and developers to come together and share what they’ve been working on. The number of tickets for DemoCamp Toronto 20 are limited.

The great news is that if you didn’t get a ticket there are other events happening in Toronto at the same time.

If you are a PR/social media professional and you want to learn about producing great video that people will want to watch and share, you should check out Third Tuesday Toronto featuring Amber MacArthur. Refresh Events latest event featuring Dré Labre talking about “what happens when subculture becomes pop culture? What small thing is going to become the next big thing?”. We need to celebrate the great work that others are doing to put together social events in Toronto.

Talk about why others care. Show some empathy for the audience. It’s only 5 minutes but your job is to convey why this is an important experience for people in the audience. Tell us why you deserve the spotlight at the big top!

Yay! It looks like after much delay, we’re going to have another DemoCampToronto. It is hard to believe that this is the 18th edition of DemoCamp in Toronto. As the event has grown, finding a great venue has become more difficult. We’ve found a fantastic venue, Supermarket, in Kensington Market.

Supermarket will be serving dinner from 5pm onwards. I suggest that you plan on heading to DemoCampToronto18 a little early, grab a quick bite at Supermarket, and then buy a beer and join us for a fantastic night of demos and presentations.

What:

DemoCampToronto18DemoCamp is a variation of the un-conference style of event, started by the TorCamp group as an excuse to have more regular meetings where community members share what they’ve been working on, demo their products, meet others (and share a drink or 3).

When:

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Where:

SUPERMARKET

268 Augusta AveToronto, Ontario

Presenting at DemoCamp

The rules are pretty simple. Demos are 5 minutes. There is generally no PowerPoint for Demos, if there is to be PowerPoint it must be approved by the stewards. Ignite presentations are 5 minutes. They are 20 slides x 15 seconds/slide and the presenter does not have control over the slide advancement. All Ignite decks must be submitted to the stewards before the event.

Ignite: If you had five minutes to talk to Toronto what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Launch a web site? Teach a hack? Talk about recent learnings, sucesses, failures? Fill out the form below to submit your talk. We are looking for talks that will inspire and teach not recruiting or product pitches.

Wow, another great event. Just a fantastic set of demos and great lineup of Ignite presentations. Thanks go out to all of the sponsors and the Toronto Board of Trade for hosting the event. The goal of these events continues to be to help Toronto’s designers, technologists and entrepreneurs connect with each other. There is an opportunity to create a better environment for participants and attendees to network with each other. The challenges I described about my networking efforts at StartupCampMontreal are present at DemoCampToronto. There are a lot of tools available: Facebook group, blogs, the wiki, the mailing list amongst others. I’m going to spend some time brainstorming about how we can improve the experience of network, i.e., it’s not a business card exchange, how do you seed meaningful relationships and opportunities as part of attendance.

For details about the DemoCampToronto experience check out the feedback from:

Michele Perras has provided details about how to win tickets to ICE08 for DemoCampToronto participants.

Innovation. Creativity. Enterprise. ICE 2008 is the platform for showcasing and discussing these themes, bringing together the best in digital media in Canada and abroad. ICE08 looks across the media and tech landscape, identifying the trends and issues that will shape our digital future. We want to know what that future looks like to you – who are the leaders, what are the brightest ideas, and with what tools will the future in Canada be created? What’s your vision?
Tell us in approximately 300 words (or 2 minutes)! All forms of bloggable media are accepted, and must be tagged with “ICE08″ to be eligible. Posts will be juried by members of io and the Democamp community, and the criteria of innovation, creativity and enterprise must be addressed.

The deadline for submissions is midnight on March 14, 2008. If you win, and have already registered, your ticket will be refunded 100%. Early Bird registration ends at midnight on February 29, 2008.

Remember there is also a DemoCampICE happening. Jay mentioned it last night. Great opportunity to engage with your audience. Submit your Demo or Ignite presentation to present at DemoCampICE.

The rules are pretty simple. The session runs an hour and 15 minutes. Demos and Ignite talks are 5 minutes. Demoers don’t get PowerPoint/Keynote/etc. (if you really need slides, please talk to the DemoCamp Stewards after your session has been accepted). Remember: demos are not a sales pitch! Use your time on stage to inspire the community and to show off your accomplishments. Ignite presentations are 20 slides x 15 seconds/slide and the presenter does not have control over the slide advancement. All Ignite decks must be submitted to the Stewards before the event in PowerPoint format.
We’re looking for Ontario interactive media and technology companies to celebrate and inspire the community. If you’re interested, fill out the form. Please note that we’re looking for talks that will inspire and teach, not recruiting or product pitches.

DemoCamp is an evening social event structured around socializing and demonstrations/presentations. The demos are limited to 5 minutes, the presentations are limited to 20 slides x 15 seconds/slide and the presenter does not have control over the slide advancing. The idea is to bring together people doing interesting things in Toronto and give them an opportunity to share with the crowd. The idea is for participants to determine the schedule and to inspire, educate or challenge the audience with the work they have been doing.